Canyon de Chelly, Labor Day weekend

[AZCPP]

OK, I get the idiot award for this week! I forgot about the Navajo Nation observing day light savings time and was 45min. late on Sunday morning. Alex, Maria, and Taz went ahead with the Navajo guide for the first half of the day and went into Canyon De Chelly. They said they were the first vehicles that had been into the upper part of the canyon due to high water in the past week. They did find some mud as the Jeeps were quite dirty when they came out. Teresa and myself took advantage of my brain fart and did the rim tour of the North Rim on our own while we waited for Alex, Maria, and Taz to complete the canyon. After meeting up with Alex, Maria, and Taz we went back to their campsite and had lunch in the shade. We then went and picked up our guide (Kathy) and proceeded into Canyon Del Muerto. For the most part it was dry and sandy but, there were some dark clouds in the sky. About half way up the canyon we could see a water fall dropping off the cliff into one of the side canyons (mmm.. chocolate milk). This offered us our first water crossing but, not our last! Kathy showed us several ruins along the way and was quite knowledgeable about the canyon. We stopped to see a ruin and there was a dwelling across the canyon from were we stopped, this was were her grand mother had lived and where Kathy had spent a lot of time as a child. It is still in her family now but, she said she didn't stay there anymore. As we traveled up the canyon we encountered a couple natives attempting to catch some wild Mustangs. I can ride and I can rope but, I don't see how those guys can stay on the horse without a saddle as they gallop through the trees and try to rope something without having the rope tied off to the pommel. Mummy Cave Ruins was our last stop and we headed back down the canyon after taking several pictures here. Mummy Cave Ruin is very well preserved and intact. That water crossing we encountered earlier was down to a trickle and the water fall was nearly gone. We did drive past a dwelling where the family was making Tamales outside on the fire and they smelled quite yummy!! As we got a little past half way back down the canyon we found water coming from one of the side canyons, (I think it was Black Rock Canyon) this gave us several water crossings to play in and the guide was encouraging Taz to go faster and to hit the deeper spots. (she was riding with him) After crossing the flow many times we found we were traveling faster than the flow and was back to dry sand. Despite my mistake, it was still a great day!

I didn't notice the shadow in this picture until I uploaded it.


Here are a few more.

[DaktariEd]

Brain fart aside, it looks like a great trip!
Although born & reared here, I've never been to Canyon de Chelly!
Someday...it's on my list...

[Willman]

Great pictures and trip report!

I love the first picture with the background shade horse rider!

[pskhaat]

That is amazingly green:



Thanks for sharing!

[AZCPP]

Just a couple more pictures.

[Alex]

Hi Chuck, it was great to meet you and Teresa!

The best I can do to make up for you missing the first half of the tour up Canyon de Chelly is to show what you missed soooo...

The lower canyon walls were a beautiful backdrop for Taz's still clean Rubicon.



Scott and Kathy, our Navajo guide, check out the first ruins in the canyon.



White House ruin



Kathy said that the south canyon had flooded 4 days ago and none of the Navajos had been back up there yet, only jeep tours. We had fun in the puddles....


...creek crossings. Check out the flood debris on the fence!



There were washouts to cross...



...and sandy cutbanks to climb.

[Alex]

If you lived in Canyon de Chelly like a few Navajo families do, this would be your commute:






Wildflowers are your constant company.

[Alex]

After what ended up being a 5 hour exploration of Canyon de Chelly, Taz and I dropped off our guide for a 1 hour break and lunch back at camp. Chuck and Teresa drove by just as we were parting with Kathy so we hooked up easily for the second half of the tour.

Chuck's big red Dodge added some contrast to the scenery of Canyon del Muerto as mine and Scott's jeeps had become the same color as the landscape by now.



Here are the 3 renegade horses. They crossed our path many times up the entire canyon, running through meadows and ducking into underbrush to elude the Navajo horsemen in their pursuit.

As far as I can tell, they are still free! We saw them one last time as we left the canyon at the end of the day.

We drove as far as the majestic Mummy Cave Ruin.

If I understood Kathy correctly, it is possible to drive another 3 miles up Canyon del Muerto to Pine Tree trail and drive up that to the mesa top. Maybe one of you guys heard what she said and can verify? It might make for another good adventure up there!


Early afternoon brought the sound of thunder echoing off the canyon walls. Kathy said that if the canyon flooded it could fill the entire floor, but only a couple of inches deep and we would be ok, so we continued our tour deeper into del Muerto. We never did get rained on, but there were signs of storms nearby:


The road and creek bed had been dry on the drive up, on the return trip it was flowing swiftly with a flood that emerged from the junction of Black Rock Canyon. I didn't get many photos because I am not crazy about driving in water, but this will give you an idea of what it was like:


The strange thing is that we went from a dry road and creek, to a flood that steadily increased as we travelled down canyon into the peak of the flow, and then out of it as we outran the water and it sank into the sand of the lower canyon. I've always wanted to see how a summer flood works in a canyon, I am glad to have seen a nice, small one.

Thanks Chuck, Teresa and Scott for for joining me on this adventure!

[IntrepidXJ]

great pictures Alex.....looks like an awesome place to check out.

[kcowyo]

I've made the same time error Chuck, when travelling with Arizonians. One of the only times I've ever been early for anything in my life.....

Phenominal photos from Chuck & Alex. Love the wild horses and ruins. Now I'm kicking myself for not getting a guide to take me down below. There is definitely a special vibe in the air in that area.

Great stuff gents -